Earlier this month we were up at Kaitaia College as
grandparents, taking part in an NCEA workshop run by Jaqi Brown from the
Ministry of Education. Now I’m not dumb,
but before that workshop I knew almost next to nothing about what the National
Certificate of Educational Achievement was, how it worked, and what it meant
for my mokopuna.
For example I did not know that there were qualification certificates to
be gained over 10 levels, with the first three levels of NCEA being the minimum
that our tamariki mokopuna will hopefully leave school with, and then moving on
up through Certificate courses (levels 4 – 5), Diplomas (level 5), various
Degrees (levels 6 – 9) and Doctorates (level 10).
The fact that I didn’t know this stuff causes me to
wonder how many more of our whanau are in the same boat. Maybe only a few, but I’m not willing to bet
on that. Because one thing that happens
when we do know this stuff, is we get a clearer idea of how we can help our children
find and follow the education pathway that is best for them. And that is the nub of the Ngati Kahu
education plan.
So I came away from the College workshop and put my
CEO hat firmly back on. As a result we
are holding an NCEA workshop on Monday 13th July in our offices on
21A Parkdale Cres for local whanau and their tamariki mokopuna who are at
secondary school, and who want to know how they too can pick the best education
pathway.
We are a very small team in Ngati Kahu, and our job
is to put and keep the power and authority to make decisions and take actions firmly
in the hands of the whanau. We do that job without Crown funding, because
almost invariably such funding compromises our integrity and autonomy as an iwi,
and disempowers our whanau and hapu.
However we are happy to work with Crown employees
who don’t try to undermine our tikanga.
Jaqi Brown is such a one, which is why we’ve invited her to work
alongside us to empower our whanau with the knowledge.
Some of
them may still choose to go another route than NCEA, but at least they will have
the facts on which to help them pick the best educational pathway for their
children.
I used to wish I could clone myself. Yes, I can hear the gasps of horror at the
very thought from several quarters.
Relax folks, I don’t wish it anymore, because I’ve
learnt to trust that there is always someone out there who is the right one to
find and pick the best pathway for us in every wonderful opportunity that comes
our way; from education to commerce, and everything before, between and after.
